


not the waking

by skatzaa



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Cunnilingus, Ensemble Cast, Established Relationship, F/F, In a way, Minor Character Death, We've got it all folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 13:34:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19319242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skatzaa/pseuds/skatzaa
Summary: Sharon breaks through the underbrush and finds herself on the riverbank, looking out over the water. Women are gathered together, racing gleefully down the stretch of river or sunning themselves on the large, flat rocks that litter the area. Sharon scans the area for a flash of sunset red. She doesn’t see anything at first, and then she spots what she’s looking for: there, perched on the trunk of a tree that’s stretched itself halfway across the width of the river, is Natalia.Natalia seems to spot her at the same time, because she rises from her crouch until just her knees are bent, and then she is a graceful arch in the air as she dives into the water.





	not the waking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princessoftheworlds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessoftheworlds/gifts).



> This is a Cap Reverse Big Bang collaboration with princessoftheworlds. I really had to step outside of my comfort zone with this one, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Please check out the art (I'll add a link as soon as I've got one!) and give Nik some love for it, it was incredibly inspiring and absolutely shaped this fic in every way.
> 
> If you're worried about the tags, please check the end notes for content warnings. The fic is broken up into six sections, so you can definitely skip one if it's not for you. Title is from Nine Cried Power by Hozier, because at least I'm consistent about being a basic bitch.

 

 

>   
>  “Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”

>   
>  ― Margaret Atwood, _The Penelopiad_

 

* * *

 

    

_1._

Sharon treads along the path, bow strung with an arrow notched. She holds the weapon low, drawstring taut against her fingertips. This is the last stretch she must patrol today, and it wouldn’t do to be careless.

She rounds a bend in the path, ducking beneath a low-hanging curtain of moss, and there is Kara, spine as straight as steel. Kara turns when she hears Sharon’s sandals on the dirt, her hand resting comfortably on the pommel of her sword.

“Anything?” Kara asks.

Sharon shakes her head. “I swept the sector several times but nothing changed.”

Kara nods and starts on her own patrol, heading first in the opposite direction from where Sharon just came.

There’s been no disturbance to the border for weeks after the last false alarm. Perhaps Carol will soon relax the patrol schedule once more; Sharon is happy enough to serve as one of the patrol guards, but it is not her only calling, and her weavings have been neglected these past weeks in favor of more shifts at the border. But then, Carol is the personal guard to the goddess and captain of all the rest, and Sharon has never known her to relax by any definition of the word.

Scanning the surrounding trees one final time and finding nothing out of the ordinary, Sharon turns down the branch of the path that will take her back to the main temple. The forest protects her from the worst of the afternoon sun, the ancient oaks arches high above her head, the branches stretching out over the open space above the path in an attempt to soak up as much light as possible.

She glances up at the leaves, newly green with the promise of spring and dappled with shadows. The forest is as much a holy place as any temple, and she takes a moment to thank the goddess for such a home.

She stops when she hears splashing; the path passes close to the river here, and this far downstream, its banks are wide and its waters calm. Many of her sisters take time during the afternoons to cool off here.

Sharon steps off the main path onto one that’s barely more than a suggestion, worn by countless visits to this place from countless women.

She breaks through the underbrush and finds herself on the riverbank, looking out over the water. Women are gathered together, racing gleefully down the stretch of river or sunning themselves on the large, flat rocks that litter the area. Sharon scans the area for a flash of sunset red. She doesn’t see anything at first, and then she spots what she’s looking for: there, perched on the trunk of a tree that’s stretched itself halfway across the width of the river, is Natalia.

Natalia seems to spot her at the same time, because she rises from her crouch until just her knees are bent, and then she is a graceful arch in the air as she dives into the water.

Sharon puts her bow aside and unties her quiver belt, setting it beside the bow. It’s the work of a moment to strip down to her underthings, and she almost falls over while taking off her sandals but recovers her balance at the last second. She steps up to the edge and then steps into the water.

It’s colder than she expected, and gooseflesh breaks out on her arms and chest as she walks further.

A few lengths away, Natalia pushes her head above the surface of the water. Her hair billows out around her, looking like blood in the water.

“Hello,” Sharon says, still trying to talk herself into submerging fully.

Natalia tilts her head, smiling slightly like she knows what Sharon is think. She says, “How was patrol?”

Sharon shrugs, lowering herself further. She shivers at the feeling of water on her stomach.

“You’ll take all day at that rate,” Natalia says, and then lunges.

Sharon goes down with a shriek with Natalia’s full weight on her, and nearly inhales a mouthful of water. She kicks her way to the surface, spluttering and trying to push her hair out of her eyes.

Natalia is already treading water just out of reach. Sharon glares at her, wiping water out of her eyes.

“Was that necessary?” she asks, trying not to be too obvious about the fact that she’s gulping air.

Natalia doesn’t even have the decency to look sheepish as she says, “I was getting impatient.”

Sharon manages to hold onto her frown for a moment longer before she folds, swimming forward until she’s in front of Natalia. She reaches out a hand and waits for Natalia to take it. When she does, Sharon pulls her in and presses a kiss to her forehead, then her cheek.

“Your impatience will be the death of me someday,” she says.

Natalia scoffs, but drifts closer to kiss the tip of Sharon’s nose. She says, “No need to be dramatic. It’s just a bit of water.”

Sharon has to concede the point. She follows Natalia out into the center of the river and lets herself relax.

    

    

_2._

Sharon wakes alone to moonlight streaming into the temple. To both sides, women sleep peacefully, curled up in groups of two or three. She isn’t sure what woke her until she hears it again: the clatter of pebbles against pebbles in the direction of the river. She has no way to truly know who it is, but the empty space by her side means she has a good guess.

Glancing around once more to ensure that no one else is awake, Sharon stands. They have little use for modesty in the temple, but it is not yet true summer and the night air is cool against her skin, so she twists her blanket around her shoulders until it forms a crude shift and creeps out of the temple.

Nights are perhaps her favorite time in the goddess’s court. The nightflowers always bloom, petals soft and gleaming, no matter the time of year. Sharon trails her fingers along the plants to either side of the path as she walks, careful not to bruise the most delicate ones. The hard packed dirt is cool against the soles of her feet. She knows this path well enough to avoid the tree roots that interrupt its course from time to time, and so she passes unscathed.

Farther along the path there is a figure, which resolves itself into the form of Maria, one of the evening guards, as Sharon draws closer. They exchange nods and then Sharon moves aside, allowing Maria to continue on her way back to the temple so she can sleep.

Higher in the mountains, the river is little more than a brook that tumbles over itself in its excitement to descend. But here on the valley floor, the river is a mighty thing, broad and calm, though the current is strong enough in places to sweep a woman away if she is careless. The waters protect the western border of the goddess’s court and empty into the lake the goddess prefers to spend her time in.

This is where Sharon finds Natalia, dressed in nothing but a thin shift and shivering as she sits on a boulder at the water’s edge. Her legs are drawn up so she can rest her chin on her knees, and her arms hold them in place. She gazes out at the water but doesn’t truly see it.

Sharon stops some distance away and waits. The water doesn’t call to her in the same way it calls to Natalia or some of the others in the court, but she can respect the connection nonetheless.

“Sharon,” Natalia says, and it’s an invitation. Sharon picks her way through the rocky shoreline until she is seated beside Natalia, who is still shivering, so she loosens the sheet from her shoulder and wraps it around them both.

Together, they watch the water ripple past, the sounds floating up to meet them.  Natalia’s shoulder is warm against her own, and Sharon is content to wait until her partner is ready to speak.

“Sometimes, I can’t sleep under the cover of the temple,” Natalia says finally. Sharon knows this, though she doesn’t say it. Some of their sisters are the same way; though the main hall, where most sleep, is tall and airy, full of green, climbing plant life and built around one of the tributary streams, it isn’t comfortable for all. There are those who sleep in the southern temple, past the goddess’s lake, and others who have built small homes somewhere else in the valley, more comfortable in the forest than under a night sky ringed by towering mountain peaks.

“We could petition the goddess to live elsewhere,” Sharon suggests. “She would say yes.”

Natalia is already shaking her head. “You love it here. I couldn’t ask you to leave.”

It’s true that Sharon prefers the company of others over solitude, but she knows it isn’t the same for Natalia. Warmth blooms in her chest at the realization that Natalia would rather stay with her than try to find a place that would be better suited to her.

But, she tells herself, leaning more fulling against Natalia and wrapping her arm around the other woman’s shoulders, that doesn’t mean Natalia should have to be uncomfortable.

“We’ll figure something out,” she says at last. It feels inadequate, but Natalia tips her head to the side until it rests against Sharon’s temple. Sharon turns to press a kiss to Natalia’s hair. “I just want you to be happy.”

“I know,” Natalia whispers. Then, even quieter, she adds, “Maybe someday, we can visit the ocean? I’ve always wanted to see it.”

“Anything,” Sharon promises, and she means it.

They sit and watch the river slide past. Sharon is willing to sit here for the rest of eternity, if that’s what Natalia needs.

The night creeps forward to dawn.

     

    

_3._

Sharon is dreaming. She knows it, because she’s never been here before.

The clearing is quiet beyond the sound of the wind through the trees, and the bubbling of a small stream, somewhere out of sight. She stands, completely bare, at the edge of a perfectly still spring, its waters so clear she can see every detail on the bottom. There’s no knowing how deep it really is without diving in.

Sharon steps forward, her feet creating ripples that cascade outward and echo back once they reach the edge. The water is warmer than the air around her, and she sinks gratefully into its embrace.

She’s never been in water this still or clear, before. She’s heard rumors of the sacred spring, but the location is only revealed at the goddess’s whim.

Something possesses her to swim for the bottom and she takes a deep breath before diving.

She can see every detail even as she kicks further down. The rocks at the bottom don’t seem to be getting any larger, and there’s a strange current pushing against her as she swims.

Her chest tightens from lack of air. She should turn around, but the bottom beckons to her. There’s something down there, something that looks like the hunched figure of a woman. She can see the curve of a spine, the roundness of a shoulder.

_The goddess._

She doesn’t know where the thought comes from, but it wraps itself around her mind and won’t let go.

Air. She needs air.

Sharon bursts above the surface and gasps. Hair covers her face and invades her mouth as she sucks in breath after breath of fresh air.

She wants to dive again, to find out if it really is the goddess’s resting at the bottom of the spring.

It takes conscious effort to slow her breathing in preparation of swimming. Her heart hammers in her chest despite this, and it makes her feel shaky and off balance.

Motion.

Sharon looks up and sees nothing. She treads water as she scans the treeline, looking for whatever it was she saw.

There.

A smear of color resolves itself into a shape, and then the shape becomes the silhouette of a woman. Sharon swims closer to the edge, keeping her eyes on the figure so it doesn’t disappear when she isn’t paying attention.

It’s Natalia, skin just as bare as Sharon’s. She gazes down at Sharon, eyes wide with an emotion Sharon can’t pin down.

“Come in,” Sharon calls, soft enough to not disturb the peace. “There’s something—”

“Sharon, come here,” Natalia says, beckoning. “Come out of the water.”

Sharon drifts backward, out of Natalia’s reach.

“Why should I?” she asks, hurt that Natalia hasn’t joined her.

“Please.” Natalia glances down at the water, mouth set firmly. Something is wrong; she almost looks afraid, and Sharon has never seen Natalia react in such a way around a body of water.

If Natalia is afraid, then Sharon should listen to her. She swims forward and reaches up just as Natalia stretches out toward her—

She wakes short of breath, and knows without any doubt how to reach the spring she dreamt of.

Beside her, Natalia is already awake, skin glistening with sweat. Sharon meets her wide eyes and says, “You saw it too.”

Natalia nods. Sharon reaches out and touches her fingers to Natalia’s face, traces her fingers along the curve of her jaw. She thinks back over the dream, struggling already to remember the details.

“You were afraid,” she realizes, whispering without meaning to do so.  “Why?”

Natalia curls closer, tucking her face into the spot between Sharon’s neck and shoulder. She shrugs as well as she can while laying down.

“It didn’t seem right,” Natalia says. She places her hand on Sharon’s breastbone. Her skin is clammy to the touch. “There was something… strange about how interested you were in the statue. I was afraid you would drown if you tried again.”

Sharon doesn’t ask how Natalia knows what happened in the dream before she arrived; dreamed gifts from the goddess follow their own logic. She says instead, “We know where the spring is now. We can visit whenever we’d like.”

Natalia nuzzles her face closer to Sharon’s neck.

“Yes,” she says, “but let’s wait for now. It’s almost time for the midyear celebration.”

She has a point, Sharon knows. Midyear is a hectic time of preparations followed by entire days of prayer and feasts. The goddess will walk among them, then, and that knowledge brings out both the best and the worst in people. Better to help with the preparations now, and plan their trip to the spring for later in the summer. After all, it won’t be going anywhere.

Sharon allows herself to release the tension left over from the dream. It’s easy, with Natalia pressed so close to her side and the moonlight streaming in through the windows of the hall.

“Will you promise me something, though?” Natalia asks, breath hot against Sharon’s skin.

Sharon nods, and really means _anything,_  when she says, “Yes.”

“You’ll have to listen to me.” Natalia presses her hand flat against Sharon’s skin, seeking out her heartbeat. “If the statue is there, I don’t want it to affect you.”

It seems silly to think of a statue compelling her to do anything, but then Sharon remembers the fierce urge to see the statue up close in the dream. They really don’t know how the statue might influence her, and Natalia is only looking out for her safety.

Sharon turns her head and kisses the closest bit of Natalia that she can reach.

“I promise,” she says.

Sleep comes even easier, after that.

     

    

_4._

Natalia arches beneath her as Sharon kisses a line down the length of her neck. The bathing pools are empty now, the rest of the court celebrating the shortest summer night at the banks of the goddess’s lake. She’s very, very glad for this.

A tiny sound escapes Natalia as Sharon bites down on the soft bit of flesh at the base of her neck. She writhes, pressing her leg more firmly against the apex of Sharon’s thighs. Sharon groans and moves her own thigh in response.

Sound echoes strangely here in the underground cavern: the water slapping against their skin and the edges of the pool as they move, the noises they can’t help but make as they move closer to one another.

Sharon brings her mouth back up and kisses Natalia, opening her lips to let her tongue dart out, because she knows Natalia enjoys it. She feels weightless in the water, and enjoys the way it makes it easier for them to come together, but at the same time it stifles their momentum. She tries to roll her hips to provide friction for Natalia, but she can’t get the leverage needed to make it effective.

Frustrated, Sharon drops her hands and situates them on the back sof Natalia’s thighs. Then she lifts her over the edge of the pool. Natalia stretches herself out on the cloth laid down to catch excess water for those ready to dry off as Sharon levers herself out of the pool as well.

It’s not often that she’s reminded of how much physically larger she is than Natalia—usually, Natalia’s presence is enough to make anyone forget how small she is—but, stretched out above her like this, Sharon feels a flare of warmth. She _likes_ being able to cover all of Natalia’s body with her own and have room to spare.

She leans down to kiss her, weight braced on one forearm as she runs her other hand down the length of Natalia’s side. Natalia moans into the kiss, hands coming up to grip Sharon’s hips.

Sharon takes the hint and shifts so she can press her thigh where Natalia wants it, rocking her body to provide friction.

Natalia breaks away, head tilting to the side as she sighs, and Sharon ducks down to nip at her ear. Natalia jolts and, panting, manages to say, “Hands.”

Sharon twists so she’s no longer on top, coming to rest on her hip and elbow beside Natalia. She moves her arm under Natalia’s head as further protection from the stone floor.

Her fingers glide down the smooth expanse of her stomach and then up one thigh, avoiding the spot where Natalia wants her. She gets a huff in return and, smiling, leans down for a kiss.

Natalia tilts her chin up into it, hips twitching already, though Sharon still hasn’t touched her. It’s a heady feeling, knowing _she_ is the one doing this.

She lets Natalia squirm for a moment longer, then drops her hand to her mound, feeling the curly hair there as her fingers trace up and down. It’s barely any pressure and she only gets away with it for a moment before Natalia uses her own hand to press Sharon’s fingers down harder.

Sharon drops her head and lets herself smile.

“I can feel that grin,” Natalia says. “Maybe you should make your mouth useful instead.”

Sharon’s smile widens. She presses an open mouthed kiss to Natalia’s neck, sucks lightly, and then pulls away to say, “If that’s what you’d like.”

Natalia’s nod is emphatic, so Sharon moves again until she’s on her stomach between Natalia’s thighs. She looks up at Natalia and smirks.

There’s been enough teasing, she decides, looping one arm around Natalia’s leg so she can use her fingers to separate the folds. There are many things she enjoys about this, but hair in her mouth is not one of them. She lowers her mouth and licks.

Natalia’s whole body tightens in response.

Sharon knows Natalia’s body nearly as well as her own, now, and she quickly falls into an easy rhythm, focusing most of her attention on the hard nub that sends tremors through Natalia. She sucks it into her mouth and presses the flat of her tongue against it, again and again, Natalia letting out breathy moans in response. As the pitch of them rises, she increases the pressure and speed of her tongue.

Natalia brings her hands up into Sharon’s hair and pushes Sharon’s face down harder against her rolling hips. Sharon whimpers and moves her hand so that she can press a finger into Natalia, then two.

It’s hard to breathe at this angle, but the last thing she wants to do is lift her head for air and abandon Natalia just on the threshold of true pleasure. She does the best she can, sucking in little spurts of air through her nose as she presses her fingers up.

And then—Natalia freezes, fingers spasming in Sharon’s hair as her climax rolls over her.

Sharon slows, pulling her fingers out and licking lightly until Natalia pulls her head back by her hair. She looks up and sees the way Natalia has sprawled, body loose from pleasure.

Something in Sharon throbs in response. She pushes herself up and crawls back up Natalia’s body, wiping her hands on the cloth around them. Sharon waits until Natalia beckons to kiss her. Her whole body feels as though it is on fire, and it takes all her willpower not to groan.

Natalia pulls away first and asks, “Do you want me–?”

“In a moment,” Sharon says, leaning in for another kiss. She smirks. “Catch your breath first, at least.”

Natalia’s answering smile is full of promises, and she follows through on every last one of them.

     

    

_5._

The man brings his sword down with both hands. The blow reverberates through Sharon’s shield; her arm loses feeling from the force of it. She needs to end this, _now,_  needs to find Natalia and make sure she’s okay.

The man howls when she drives her sword through him. She yanks and he topples, silent. The stench of blood is heavy when she brings her sword back to her side.

Sharon doesn’t waste any time, simply pivots and searches out her next opponent.

The valley was supposed to be _safe._  Between the guards and the goddess’s magic, these men shouldn’t have been able to breach the border—

The goddess.

Sharon blocks a blow, but she’s slow, her arm still half-dead. The blade bites into the metal edge of her shield, refuses to let go. She bashes the man’s head with the pommel of her sword and nearly falls to her knees when he drops, their attached weapons pulling her off balance. Sharon braces and heaves. Then she’s free of him.

She needs to get to the lake. Natalia will be there, defending the goddess.

The battle rages around her, the sounds of the dead and dying grating against her ears. Her sisters-in-arms are trying to hold off the attack and they’re succeeding. For now. This won’t have been the only point of ambush; she can only hope they didn’t think to ford the river or follow it directly to the lake.

Sharon dodges another attacker and then she’s beyond the fighting. A few steps bring her to the edge of the clearing. There’s a trail that will lead her to the edge of the lake, if only she can _remember_ —

_There._ Sharon forces herself into a run, sword held low so as not to hurt herself. After the fighting she is tired, but there’s no choice to do anything other than _keep running._

A tree root rises up in the path. Sharon notices it too late and catches her foot. She thrusts her arm out as she falls so as not to stab herself, and ends up with a shield to the stomach for her efforts. She struggles to breathe as she pushes herself to her feet.

She runs.

There’s men at the lake, fighting the women who’d had the same thoughts as Sharon and rushed to defend the goddess. And there—red darker than blood, spinning out behind Natalia as she swings her sword and guts an invader. She’s nearly on the far side of the lake, a small figure in the distance.

Sharon fumbles for her bow and then remembers: she left it behind at the last skirmish because she ran out of arrows. If she had it, she could take out attackers before they even reached one of her sisters.

A man runs from the left, sword raised over his head. Sharon sweeps around and brings her shield up to block. While he’s busy sorting that out, she drops her sword and pulls the last knife from her belt. She stabs him with it. Bends to pick up her sword without checking to see if he’s dead—

The man lunges, blood bubbling up between his lips, and knocks her off her feet. He wrenches her shield arm aside and lifts his sword. It trembles, like he can no longer take the weight of it. Sharon kicks out. One foot catches him in the chin and his head snaps back.

The lake _explodes._

Sharon scrambles away from the man as water surges upward, forming a towering pillar. She glances around for the next opponent as it continues to grow, but the invaders are afraid, edging backwards from the lake’s shores.

She looks up and—is it the power of suggestion, or is the water taking a shape? Sharon thinks she sees the curve of a hip, the fullness of a breast, then—

Sharon turns away and stabs her sword into the ground. She falls to her knees and braces herself.

The water hits her like a rock wall. Sharon closes her eyes and clings.

The water hasn't swept her away.

She doesn’t dare open her eyes, but she _knows_ that something is different. The force of that wave should have torn her from her sword and broken her against the trees.

But she’s still here, submerged in water and desperate for breath, but still here.

_Thank you,_  she thinks. The goddess will know.

The wave subsides. Sharon staggers to her feet and pulls her sword free.

All around her, the other warriors of the court do the same. The invaders, what’s left of them at least, lay scattered like strewn sticks. None of them move. If she knows her goddess, every river and stream in the valley just overflowed, wiping out as many of the men as possible. Her sisters will be able to handle the rest.

Sharon scans the lake’s edge, desperately trying to find Natalia again. She starts to move in the direction she last saw her, stopping to check on wounded sisters. They’ll all survive, thank the goddess, but she hates the selfishness that makes her move on from each quickly.

She spots Nakia helping Ayo to her feet and steps closer, reaching out to steady them both. Nakia smiles grimly.

“Are you alright?” Sharon asks, trying not to let her eyes stray from them in order to keep searching.

Ayo nods. “We will be fine.”

Sharon squeezes Nakia’s arm lightly before stepping away. She _needs_ to find Natalia.

“Sharon,” Nakia calls. Sharon looks back over her shoulder. Nakia’s face is somber. “I last saw her heading into the forest.”

Sharon nods in thanks and breaks into a jog. The forest will make it harder to find her, since she has no way of knowing which direction Natalia went. She keeps her sword out, just in case.

The ground cover was washed away by the flood, she realizes as she leaves the lake behind. They’ll likely find drifts of leaves, dirt, and twigs at the far edge of the surge.

Where _is_ she?

If she walks parallel to the lake, Sharon can see enough of the forest that she should be able to find her, provided Natalia didn’t go to deep before the waters hit.

She walks. There’s a few corpses here and there; she makes note of the ones belonging to her sisters, to come back for. They deserve a proper send off.

Natalia’s not here. If Sharon can’t find her, that means she’s either dead, or so badly injured that she’ll be dead soon enough. Her heart stutters at the thought. She begins to run, calling out Natalia’s name, trying not to choke on the word.

The sun is lower in the sky when Sharon gives in to the inevitable thought. Natalia is gone.

She drops to her knees, sword abandoned at her side. Her face is wet, tears dripping down her chin and soaking the edge of her clothing. She can’t—she _can’t_ —

“Sharon?”

She looks up, and there is Natalia, leaning heavily against a tree, one hand pressed tightly to her side. She smiles faintly.

Sharon pushes to her feet, one hand reaching out, and then… hesitates.

Natalia steps forward. Foot raises for the next step, she wavers.

Sharon rushes forward, a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob stuck in her throat. There’s blood on Natalia’s clothes, blood on her fingers where they’re held against her side. She collapses forward when Sharon reaches her and they fall to the ground together.

“You’re okay,” Sharon breathes, a question and a statement all wrapped up into one. She brings her arms up, trying to figure out where Natalia might be hurt so she doesn’t irritate any injuries.

Natalia leans forward, resting her weight on Sharon. She laughs. There are tears on Sharon’s skin that she didn’t cry.

“I’ll be okay,” Natalia corrects. She brings her free arm up and wraps it around Sharon and that’s it. Sharon pulls her in, arms wound around her back, one hand smoothing down her hair in a pathetic attempt at comfort. Her head drops to Natalia’s shoulder, relief pouring out of her.

“We’ll be okay,” Natalia says again. Sharon believes her.

     

    

_6._

Sharon stares out at the vast expanse before her, pink in the light of the rising sun.

The cliff tumbles down away from them, steep enough that walking it would be difficult, but not enough that plants can’t find a home there. Wildflowers cling stubbornly to the rock, a cascade of color so vibrant that Sharon can hardly believe her eyes.

Natalia stands at the very edge, hair flung out behind her like a banner in the wind. She looks out over the sea, expression tranquil.

Sharon steps up beside her, trying not to glance down at the long drop. She curls herself around Natalia’s side, hand coming up to rest on her opposite hip.

“It’s wonderful,” Natalia says, eyes fixed raptly on the horizon.

Sharon doesn’t look away from Natalia’s face. She says, “It is.”

    

    

* * *

 

 

 

> “For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),  
>  It's always our self we find in the sea.”

>   
>  ― e.e. cummings, 100 Selected Poems

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings: _4._ has relatively explicit oral sex between two women, but is not overly descriptive, and _5._ includes non-graphic depictions of fighting and death. If there's something else you feel should be tagged, please feel free to drop me a comment here or a message on tumblr (I'm skatzaa there as well). I'm always looking to improve when it comes to my tags.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos are always appreciated but never required.
> 
> Read on,  
> Skats


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